The third unofficial Test between India A and South Africa A beginning in Bloemfontein on Monday will give the fringe players another opportunity to make their case for national selection ahead of the senior team’s South Africa tour later this month.
A squad of at least 20 is likely to be picked for the South Africa tour comprising three Tests and three ODIs beginning December 26.
Hanuma Vihari, who was controversially dropped for the New Zealand series at home, is expected to come back into the side. He looked good in the drawn second unofficial Test scoring couple of fifties.
Abhimanyu Easwaran, who could be picked as a back up batter in the top-order, has been in sublime touch on the tour.
He scored a hundred in the series opener and followed it up with a fifty in the second innings of the game held earlier this week.
Prithvi Shaw has not made most of his chances in South Africa, not helping his case for selection.
After a tough outing in the series opener, the pacers were impressive in the second game with the young Ishan Porel standing out with a match haul of six wickets. Navdeep Saini too was amongst the wickets, taking five in total.
Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar has not done much in the series but he is likely to be picked in ODI squad.
Young pacer Umran Malik did not play the last game and could be fielded in the final game of the series which has seen two draws so far.
Teams:
South Africa A Squad: Pieter Malan (c), Sarel Erwee, Dominic Hendricks, Raynard van Tonder, Sinethemba Qeshile, Senuran Muthusamy, Marco Jansen, Migael Pretorius, Beuran Hendricks, Lutho Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman, George Linde, Jason Smith, Tony de ZorziBench.
India A Squad: Priyank Panchal (c), Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, Baba Aparajith, Upendra Yadav, Krishnappa Gowtham, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Umran Malik, Ishan Porel, Arzan Nagwaswalla.
